Hair that's a fright
I'm hairy high and low
Don't ask me why
Don't know
Hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair
Flow it, show it
Long as God can grow it
My hair
-"Hair" the Musical
Since my sweet Luke grew more hair than the infant peach fuzz he had at birth, he's had crazy hair. It's been that funny, fuzzy, stick-y up in all directions mane that you've come to giggle about. It's tough to describe, but it is certainly something to smile over.
New Year's Eve, 2011
Just like Rufio from "Hook" ... perhaps we should go red and black.
Could work for our little Wolfpacker!
Just like Rufio from "Hook" ... perhaps we should go red and black.
Could work for our little Wolfpacker!
Now, there's plenty of stuff out here on the interwebs that isn't quite what it appears to be. Pictures are cropped and photoshopped until they barely resemble the real life image the camera captured. Not so with these photos, I promise. These are original, untouched craziness. In fact, pictures rarely do justice to the insanity that is dear Luke's hairdo. And there's no static involved. No hair products could do this on purpose. It's 100%, all natural, crazy baby hair.
I think this was as long as it ever got - Thanksgiving 2010
Trimmed up, but crazy as ever - Feb 2011
Even when it's short, it stands straight out from his head - October 2011
Okay, so hair products were used one time to create his rock star locks for Halloween.
The front sticks up and forward, the sides go anywhere from straight out to semi-down, but on the crown of his head head, it's skyward, straight up, and sometimes curving up and then back. And for those of you who don't know him in real life, it's touchable. You can rub his head over and over, and it pops right back up. In fact, even after a whole day of wearing a hat, it springs back out - like it's been begging to escape the hat for hours.
This is not nap hair. This is just what it does.
Sometime in late summer or early fall, I decided that if it could just get enough length, it would become heavy enough to lay down. I committed to letting it grow out until Thanksgiving.
We started getting more and more comments from random strangers at the grocery store. "I just LOVE his hair!" I'm not sure whether to believe them. I think "I just LOVE his hair!" might be code for "OMG why on earth do you let him leave the house like that?!" It definitely invites comments. One 9ish year old kid in a restaurant came up to him, rubbed his head to be sure it really wouldn't lay down, then said "My hair was just like that when I was little!" And I gotta admit, the boy's hair wasn't too far from that still.
The other fairly frequent comment that we get is "My (nephew/brother/son/insert-other-semi-distant-relative-here) had hair JUST like that at his age!!" And my quick response is "So, did he grow out of it?! Puhleaze tell me he did!" I actually love hearing from those folks, because most are reassuring that by the time the kid was elementary age, his hair was pretty much laying down. There's hope right?
Now, I will say, that we used some grownup shampoo (it claims to be "smoothing") while we were visiting Derek's mom after Christmas. It came as close to laying down that day as it ever has:
See! Laying down on top, sticking out only on the sides and back.
But another wash with baby shampoo, and it's back to it's regular gig of standing on end. We even tried a heavy duty leave in scalp moisturizer/conditioner. If that much grease won't make it lay down, I don't know what will.
When it wasn't showing any signs of becoming more tame at Thanksgiving, I decided to let it go until Christmas.
It's a little tough to tell in this pic because he was so squirmy, but his hair is easily 2 inches long. And still standing on end, straight out from his head. On New Year's Eve, I finally gave in and buzzed him again. Short. Sweet. And sticking out in all directions once again.
But you know what my dear Gabby discovered (via "Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me," no less!)? There is an incurable genetic syndrome known as "Uncombable Hair Syndrome." Oh yes.
Uncombable Hair Syndrome.
The hair shaft has a groove in it that actually prevents it from laying down - the hair is triangular shaped. To save you the effort of Googling it yourself - cause I *know* you were going to! - here are some images borrowed from the web:
Uncombable hair. That's my boy.
6 comments:
Have you wondered if his wild hair will influence his personality? Luke Foster, drummer, sounds about right.
There's always Vitalis.
I heard that Wait Wait don't tell me too! To think, I might know someone who has that?! Wow. In the presence of greatness and I didn't even realize it. :-D
I love his hair... mainly for the giggle factor. But there is something about the combination of his hair and mischievous smile that melts my heart.
LYTB,
Jamie
I agree with Jamie he wouldn't be Luke if he didn't have that hair and awesome smile. We used baby oil to train Sam's hair. It doesn't wash out easily so it worked for us.
I heart a baby mohawk! I think he should sport that do more often!
When I was little it took me for.ever to grow hair. I think I was about two before I started growing hair. My mom used to put wigs on me. And cloth diapers - do rag style. (You know - for pics, not for reals.) Phew!
Hello! I found your blog by googling 'uncombable hair'. That is exactly what our four year old was diagnosed with today. Was your child ever diagnosed with this? Did it get better? Our dr told us only 100 or so people have this condition and I'm desperate to find someone to talk to that has been through this.
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